The Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) otherwise known as the Shiites
group has alleged that 11 of its members were killed in a clash with the
police in Abuja on July 22nd. It also claimed that 30 others were
injured in the fracas.
It said out of those injured, the police went to University of Abuja
Teaching Hospital in Gwagwalada and took them to an unknown place. The
figures were contained in an update by the President of the Media Forum
of Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), Ibrahim Musa.
The statement said: “Abuja today (on Monday) yet again witnessed one
of the worst cases of blatant trampling of the rights of citizens ever
seen in the Federal Capital, when joint security forces consisting of
both uniformed men and officers of the Nigerian Police Force and others
in mufti, unleashed their fury on a Free Zakzaky protest by members of
the Islamic Movement.“The procession, attended by several thousands of persons, including
very young children, the aged, women and the physically challenged, met
with an extreme rage indicative of deep seated animosity the Nigerian
authorities bear for the Movement.“What actually happened was that the protesters started the
procession from NITEL junction and on getting to federal secretariat the
police cordoned off the road and started firing at them.A lot of people have been shot but for now we can only confirm 11
deaths, but several are injured, the figure for now stood at 30. Though
we are aware of the fact that the security agents have been going around
taking off those they killed from the streets.“Even some seriously injured persons that were taken to Abuja
University teaching Hospital Gwagwalada; the police went there and took
away about 11 people they shot during the protest. We strongly dispute
the claim by the police that the protesters shot at them because
throughout our processions we have not been carrying any arms right from
2015 to date.It was also the police who shot at the Reporter of Channels TV,
another indication that many innocent people were shot at by the police,
including some of their own. In this era of social media the brutality
displayed by the police today has been captured with some pictures
showing the police setting up the bonfires and there are videos that
captured the police carting away their victims”.